Poroshenko explains his intention to sue 1+1 channel - Kyiv Post, Hromadske

Petro Poroshenko emphasizes that his lawsuit against one of the Ukrainian TV channels is an instrument for protecting our state from the attempts to disrupt the situation in the country through the mass media, as Kyiv Post reported. “I emphasize that I have never sued journalists. And now I’m not going to do it. I made a decision and filed a lawsuit against the channel. This is an element of the protection of the Ukrainian state from the attacks of the major fugitive oligarch who sits abroad and thinks that he will control the strings of the Ukrainian puppets. We have to stop that. You will not succeed. There will be no revenge,” Poroshenko said in the Freedom of Speech program on the ICTV channel on March 26 evening. Poroshenko said he is sure that the court will prove him correct and “nobody else will want to use the media to destabilize the situation in our country.” “I have signed a relevant agreement, a corresponding claim will be registered and this will be done to protect the interests of our state,” the president stressed. As reported, member of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (Bloc of Petro Poroshenko parliament faction head) Artur Herasymov earlier said Poroshenko intended to sue TV Channel 1+1 for circulating lies and disinformation. “Petro Poroshenko decided to sue TV Channel 1+1 for systematic lies on a large scale, for spreading large amounts of disinformation that damage the honor and dignity of the presidential candidate and president,” Herasymov said in a statement. As Hromadske reported yesterday, "on March 23, 1+1 aired a film called Ukrainian Sensations, which is dedicated to the incumbent President’s alleged past misconduct. Among others, there are claims that Poroshenko is responsible for public funds embezzlement through organization of corrupt schemes, as well as the death of his own brother, Mykhaylo Poroshenko. The latter allegation was previously heard on Russia’s NTV channel, as part of anti-Ukrainian state propaganda". Poroshenko’s presidential campaign headquarters urged Ukrainians to treat news and other information products of the media group with great caution since there appears “more and more political orders from the owner.” “In recent months, the information policy of one of the Ukrainian television channels has undergone significant changes … We are talking about Channel 1+1. The owner of this media did not measure up to the tests of the fourth estate… He turned the channel into an instrument of dirty political technology and black PR against one of the presidential candidates, namely Petro Poroshenko. Ihor Kolomoisky rudely trampled on the basic principles of free journalism and freedom of speech,” Herasymov said in the statement. Kyiv Post, Hromadske